STOCKHOLM, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- A majority of Swedish university towns are unable to provide sufficient housing for students, according to a report released by the Swedish National Union of Students (NUS) on Wednesday.
The report shows that seven in ten students in Sweden live in a municipality where the average waiting time for accommodation after enrolling in university is longer than one term.
"The situation for students in Sweden is very, very dire," NUS chairman Jakob Adamowizc told Swedish Television on Wednesday. "We can see that more housing is being built, but it does not match the speed at which the country's universities are expanding," he added.
The NUS has ranked student towns using a traffic-light system. Twelve out of 33 student towns are red-listed, 12 are listed as yellow and just nine municipalities receive a green-light ranking.
The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning appears to confirm the NUS' view of the extent of Sweden's accommodation shortage for students.
In May, it released a survey where 23 out of 39 student towns said they had a shortage of student accommodation. In addition, according to the latest statistics, from last fall, Sweden needs between 17,000 and 20,000 more student residences.
Adamowicz said politicians urgently need to address the situation.
Karin Wanngard, the Social Democrat mayor of Sweden's capital Stockholm, one of the cities where the housing shortage is most severe, said that she is confident enough housing will be built in the city in the next five years.
